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Almond Milk
(A 17th Century Recipe) "Take three pints of running water, a handfull of Raisins of the Sun stoned, halfe a handfull of Sorrell, as much violet and strawberry leaves, halfe a handfull of the topps and flowers of burrage (borage), as much of Buglass, halfe a handfull of Endive, as much Succory, some Pauncys (pansies), a little broad time (thyme) and Orgamen (marjoram), and a branch or two of Rosemary; lett all these boyle well together; then take a good handfull of French Barley, boyling it in three waters, put it to the rest, and lett them boyle till you think they are enough; then pour the liquor into a basin, and stamp the barley and reasons (raisins), straining them thereto; then take a quarter of a pound of sweet almonds, blanch them and pound them thrice, straining them to the other liquor; then season it with damask roasewater to your liking." CAPERS "An olive, capers, or some better salad."
BEN JONSON "Turbot with capers is the thing. The brisk little capers relieve the dullness of the turbot; the melted butter is rich, bland and calm." THACKERAY The grayish green flower buds and young berries of the Mediterranean caper shrub are pickled and used as an ingredient in sauces, salad dressings, and for garnish. The commercial kind come in different sizes and qualities of which the smallest are the tenderest, most flavorsome and most expensive. They're graded as non pareilles, surfines and capotes and for centuries were considered a proletarian condiment by the upper classes, but now they are both cheap and fashionable, and a bottle of capers is indispensable for the outdoors, hunter's style, shirt sleeves cook. An occasional camp cook still uses cassia buds, which are stocked by fancy grocers. These are the dried flowers of several species of cinnamon, as closely related as nutmeg and mace, the latter being just the husk of the nutmeg and hence rated as spice, while cassia buds come correctly under the general heading of herbs. Herb seeds, such as anise, caraway, dill and fennel are all taste makers in stews and pickles; with poppy seed for popping into salads, along with mustard seed, which is definitely a spice, on the basis that seeds are spice, while leaves are herbs. So we'll call it a day, without going into the fast disappearing coltsfoot, for making the quaint candy of that name, licorice root, mallow for flavoring marshmallows, elecampane for sweetmeats, ferns and sassafras bark, none of which at present come as close to being culinary herbs as do olives, which have practically climbed into the class of savory seasonings. But we will use our right to the last word by recommending grape tendrils, to lend to salads much the same snappy sap or sappy snap that bean sprouts do.
This is a barley-and-almond cordial in the old medicinal style: a pot of herbs and raisins simmered down, thickened with barley and enriched with pounded almonds. Treat it as a drink rather than a broth, and expect a pale, faintly sweet, strongly floral liquid.
- The hinge: the almonds make the milkBlanched almonds pounded three times and then strained into the liquor are what turns herb water into "milk." Pound or blend them with a little of the warm liquid and press hard through a fine sieve or cloth; a single quick pass gives thin, watery results.
- Weights and measuresThree pints is about 1.4 litres by US measure, nearer 1.7 litres if English pints are meant, and it will reduce during the long boil. A "handfull" of leaves is roughly a loosely packed cup; a quarter pound of almonds is about 115 g. The herb quantities are the vaguest part of the recipe and were never meant to be exact.
- Names that have changedSuccory is chicory; buglass is bugloss (borage's blue-flowered relative); pauncys are pansies or heartsease; orgamen is marjoram or wild marjoram, that is, oregano; broad thyme is probably a broad-leaved thyme, often taken to be a garden thyme. Raisins "of the sun" are simply sun-dried raisins, and "stoned" means seeded, which modern raisins already are.
- French barley and the three watersFrench barley is hulled or pearl barley. Boiling it in three changes of water removes the starchy, dusty scum and gives a clean-tasting liquid; skipping it leaves the drink cloudy and gluey.
- Running waterThe instruction distinguishes fresh stream water from standing pond or cistern water. Filtered tap water covers it.
- Borage and buglossBoth contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids and are best used sparingly and occasionally rather than drunk daily; several countries now discourage regular consumption of borage leaf infusions. The flowers are the milder part.
- RosewaterDamask rosewater is still sold, and strengths vary a good deal between brands. Add a teaspoon at a time and taste.
- Yield and servingExpect a little over a quart of finished liquid, four to five cups. There is no sugar in the recipe beyond the raisins, so sweeten at the glass if you want it.
Almond milk was a staple of European kitchens for centuries before it became a supermarket carton, valued because it kept better than dairy in warm weather and was permitted on fast days when milk and cream were not. This particular version belongs to the seventeenth-century tradition of medicinal "cooling" drinks, in which barley water was the base and the herb list was chosen on humoral principles: sorrel, endive, succory, violet and strawberry leaves were all classed as cooling and cleansing, while borage and bugloss carried a long-standing reputation, traditional rather than demonstrated, for lifting melancholy. Rosewater as a finishing flavour was an ordinary luxury of the period, kept in well-stocked stillrooms. Its appearance here reflects how much of early English cookery drew on the flower garden as a pantry.